


A Discussion

by alafaye



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 18:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alafaye/pseuds/alafaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The house elfs are upset, Lucius is worried, and Harry is confused.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Discussion

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2013 winter advent challenge; master list and prompts can be found [here](http://alafaye.livejournal.com/350228.html). This is day 23, wrapping gifts.

"Master Lucius, sir?" Filly asked, wringing her hands on a dish cloth.

Lucius raised an eyebrow and regarded her from behind the correspondence he had been reading. "Yes?"

Her ears flapped as she was unable to contain her nervousness. "I...I was being told by Peony that Master Harry is doing something he ought to be leaving to us."

Lucius sighed and closed his eyes. "I'll have another talk with him."

"Oh, no, sir!" she squeaked. "I didn't mean that he needs to be talked to like he was a youth."

Lucius waved away her protests. "It's fine, Filly. Harry needs to learn that there are certain things that are to be left to the house elfs."

She nodded and with a bow, left the study. Lucius wished he'd thought to ask her where Harry was, but he was sure to find Harry in no time. There were few parts of the Manor that Harry was comfortable being in which left few places to check. Lucius set aside the letter, wrote down some notes about it and the subject it concerned, and left his study. 

Three rooms later and he found Harry in the family sitting room, where a large tree had been decorated only yesterday. Harry was on the floor, surrounded by gifts and the sundry items that were used to wrap gifts. When Harry turned at the sound of his footsteps, Lucius looked up and turned his back. "I didn't see any of the gifts," he said. "I just wanted to have a word."

Harry chuckled. "As if I would wrap your gifts when you're home. Those are still hidden away."

Lucius turned and crossed the room. "Or have been found by the house elfs and are being wrapped as we speak."

Harry frowned. "They would do that?"

Lucius shrugged and sat in a wing back chair by Harry. "It is part of their duties."

"To wrap the gifts?" Harry asked incredulously. "Is there anything that isn't part of their duties?"

Lucius raised his eyebrows. "I have an ancestor whose portrait assures me that in her day, the house elfs would even pleasure their mistresses and masters."

Harry snorted and turned back to the gift wrapping. "I don't believe you."

Lucius smirked. "Maybe, maybe not. But, Harry, Filly was just in my study again."

"For doing what I'm supposed to leave to the house elfs?" Harry growled.

"I'm sorry," Lucius offered quietly. "I know this is an adjustment, but--"

"But nothing," Harry argued, turning to face Lucius. "I'm not...I asked them what it is that they think I'm supposed to do, as your husband. Do you know what they said?"

"Likely the same duties a society wife would have?" Lucius asked.

Harry nodded. "That or what you do--run businesses and have political meetings and manage the business side of the estate." He scrubbed his face with his hands and groaned. "I'm none of those things, Lucius. I'm an artist. I don't know the first thing about planning tea parties or dinner galas and you told me that I didn't have to, that you weren't looking for a partner who would do those things."

Lucius considered what Harry was telling him. He hadn't set out to tell Harry to let the house elfs do what they were supposed to, but clearly they were having a much bigger discussion that what a house elf was meant to do. He reached out a hand to his husband who grasped it firmly and let himself be pulled up into Lucius' lap.

"We haven't really talked about our married life," Lucius muttered. "I'm retired from the public, but still running the estate. You want as little to do with the public as possible, preferring to stay inside with your art. And you want even less to do with the house elfs, never mind any of the usual duties the head or spouse would do."

Harry thought about that. "You think they're confused?"

"I think we're all confused," Lucius corrected. "This time of year--my wife would have organized a public gathering and by now, had all the shopping done. The house elfs would've decorated for us and wrapped the gifts. I'd be wrapping up the end-of-the-year business details."

"Well, we've certainly turned them on their heads, haven't we?" Harry teased.

Lucius half smiled and rubbed Harry's back. "Maybe...Draco wrote me the other week that his new wife thinks they need more house elfs. I can see about reassigning some of the ones here. It would leave more chores for those left, but it would leave them less time to focus on what they think they would be doing if we were any other couple that they are used to."

"I feel bad, you know," Harry admitted quietly. "I'm just so used to doing these things myself--some of them I even like doing. Like the gifts--I feel like it's more personal if I'm the one to wrap rather than have a store clerk or a house elf do it. But I understand that a lot of what I do, most of it they have been doing for years."

Lucius nodded. "Still, something has to be done. I'll look over things and see what we can do to make everyone happy."

"You don't have to," Harry said. "Honestly. I can see if--"

"No," Lucius told him. "There is a solution to this. As I said, Astoria might have use for some extra house elfs who have been working in an estate for years. It might do her good for when she is mistress of this manor."

Harry shrugged, but nodded. "All right. Now, since you don't have any experience wrapping gifts, I suppose you won't help?"

Lucius looked over Harry's shoulder at the pile of gifts that remained and make a quick decision. "How about an immediate solution to the current problem that is bothering the house elfs? We can let them wrap what's left and you and I can retire to the bedroom for an afternoon...nap?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "A nap?"

Lucius nodded. "A nap."

Harry worried his lip for a second. "And would this nap be...invigorating?"

"Oh, yes," Lucius promised. "Very."

Harry took a deep breath and smiled as it ended, a twist of his lips that implied that he knew what Lucius was doing but was willing to put up with it. He bent and brushed his lips against Lucius'. "I suppose I could have a small rest."

"Excellent," Lucius purred.


End file.
